If you are a regular at any of my classes - either in person on line - you will have probably seen me wearing this T shirt. I think it promotes a very important message, acknowledging that mental illness is a part of many people’s lives. But in the last few weeks I have had reason to re-visit the statement, and see it from a different perspective.
Recently I was hit out of the blue by a nasty depressive episode. I have lived with mental illness for over 20 years, and I can usually recognise the signs that depression is heading my way about a day in advance. But this one caught me off guard, and hit me hard. I was pretty confused for a couple of days, and spent most of one day in bed before I started to feel as if I could function properly again. Fortunately, this episode was short lived, and I woke up after a few days with the depression completely lifted. As I got out of bed I thought to myself how wonderful it was to feel OK.
The T shirt slogan still holds true; and it really is OK not to be OK.
But don’t forget that that sometimes OK can be pretty bloody brilliant.